Milta Ortiz

Milta Ortiz

Milta Ortiz is a playwright from the Bay Area, who now calls Tucson home. She’s excited to work with StoryWorks and Arizona Daily Star on Cycles, a play about two friends in the Arizona Foster Care system, and with Pima Community College on a play about two sisters, one who happens to be a Dreamer. Her play Judge Torres premiered to a sold out run at Milagro Theater in January 2019, and continues on to a...
Milta Ortiz is a playwright from the Bay Area, who now calls Tucson home. She’s excited to work with StoryWorks and Arizona Daily Star on Cycles, a play about two friends in the Arizona Foster Care system, and with Pima Community College on a play about two sisters, one who happens to be a Dreamer. Her play Judge Torres premiered to a sold out run at Milagro Theater in January 2019, and continues on to a college national tour. She received NEA and NALAC grants to develop and produce her play, Sanctuary, which premiered to a sold out run at Borderlands Theater in September 2018. She devised, wrote and directed Solving for X for the Working Classroom (2016-17.) Her play, Más was produced at Su Teatro (March 2017,) and co-produced by Laney College (March, 2016) and Ubuntu Theater Project (May 2016.) Más premiered to a sold out run at Borderlands Theater (September 2015) and was nominated for a Steinberg-ATCA Award, toured Arizona Universities (in 2016/17) and was produced at San Diego State University (November 2018.) Más was developed at Borderlands Theater through an NNPN residency, NALAC and TPAC grants, and produced thanks to NEA funding. Other produced plays include the 21st, 20th, 19th, and 18th Annual, A Tucson Pastorela, Sonoran Shadows, Disengaged, Fleeing Blue and solo play Scatter My Red Underwear. Milta teaches theater at Pima Community College. She earned an M.F.A. from Northwestern University’s Writing for the Screen and Stage program, and a Creative Writing B.A. from San Francisco State University. She is associate artistic director at Borderlands Theater and mom to a creative first grader.

Plays

  • Sanctuary by Milta Ortiz
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: drama, political
    ·
    Keyword: gender bias, gender + 7 more
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: gender bias, gender, immigration, asylum seekers, refugees, sexuality, Immigrants, ally, feminist
    When Carol and Micha find out about detained Salvadorans fleeing civil war, they set out to process political asylum applications. After meeting Victor, a Salvadoran in a Border Patrol detention center, they realize that they're going to need help. They call on Father Hartford who processes hard-edged Nidia, a Salvadoran with strong opinions. They enlist Jeff Chord, who sits on the National Presbyterian...
    When Carol and Micha find out about detained Salvadorans fleeing civil war, they set out to process political asylum applications. After meeting Victor, a Salvadoran in a Border Patrol detention center, they realize that they're going to need help. They call on Father Hartford who processes hard-edged Nidia, a Salvadoran with strong opinions. They enlist Jeff Chord, who sits on the National Presbyterian Council and before long Quaker Will Hewitt joins the group with ideas of his own. But Nidia and Victor are on opposite sides of the war, the number of detained Salvadorans keeps growing, and the group has to come to terms with their personal issues, and choose between the law of man and the law of God.
  • Más by Milta Ortiz
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: identity, Latino + 3 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, political
    Keyword: identity, Latino, resiliency, cultural conflict, Presente
    Based on a true story. A community struggles to hold onto their history, identity, and humanity as they fight to save Mexican American Studies in the Tucson Unified School District.
  • Disengaged by Milta Ortiz
    Cast: 
    9–11
    ·
    Genre: young audiences
    ·
    Keyword: Troubled youth, at risk youth + 4 more
    Genre: young audiences
    Keyword: Troubled youth, at risk youth, lesbian youth, youth angst, Immigrants, bilingual
    Follows the lives of seven youth as they struggle to attend and stay in school. Based on youth testimony from story circles and educator interviews on the drop out crisis in Phoenix. *testimony and interviews used as source material.
  • Fleeing Blue by Milta Ortiz
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: magical realism, Civil War
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: magical realism, Civil War
    Max is thrust into an unexpected journey, when detained along with Chepe as part of Mando’s initiation into the death squad. A hauntingly familiar guide helps him along the way as he grapples with himself in a warn torn reality.
  • You, Me, and Tuno by Milta Ortiz
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: coming of age, spoken word + 5 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: coming of age, spoken word, urban, identity, food desert, hip hop, urban lanscape
    Written in vernacular, You, Me, and Tuno is a poetic journey that questions boundaries in the search for home. When teens, Marisol and Luna's parents leave to pick pomegranates in the fields of Fresno, California, they are left with their Tia and cousin, Tuno in East Oakland. The three teens venture out of the familiarity and danger of their opportunity desert hood, to the aisles of “Real Foods” to taste a...
    Written in vernacular, You, Me, and Tuno is a poetic journey that questions boundaries in the search for home. When teens, Marisol and Luna's parents leave to pick pomegranates in the fields of Fresno, California, they are left with their Tia and cousin, Tuno in East Oakland. The three teens venture out of the familiarity and danger of their opportunity desert hood, to the aisles of “Real Foods” to taste a pomegranate. The quest tests their relationship to each other, the opportunity desert they call home, and their understanding of who they are.
  • Lilac Roses by Milta Ortiz
    Cast: 
    5–6
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: family, health care + 3 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: family, health care, death, cultural differences, Drugs
    Mamá Inez takes a sudden fall and lands in the hospital. Now the family must deal with heath insurance issues and what is unsaid between each other.